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Break-ups, meet-ups and a side order of murder mystery

Reviews by Leonard G. Heldreth

The films this month chronicle the breakdown of a marriage, the meeting of two popes, the solving of a murder mystery and a glance back at a landmark of television.

Marriage Story

Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story is about a marriage coming apart, so don’t expect happy endings. Since the two people still care for each other but can no longer tolerate living together with their eight-year-old son, there’s a lot of trauma as they try to determine how to separate as painlessly as possible.

Nicole Barber (Scarlett Johansson) is married to Charlie Barber (Adam Driver), who heads a theater company called “Exit Ghost” headquartered in New York City. Nicole is starring in the company’s current production, but wants to return to Los Angeles where she was a movie actress. Charlie wants to stay in New York and take his play to Broadway. It’s the classic case of two people who each want to pursue a career in a different part of the country.

As the situation deteriorates, son Henry (Azhy Robertson) is pulled into the conflict. Nicole is offered the lead in a new TV series and wants to move permanently to Los Angeles; Charlie is awarded a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant and wants to funnel the award and money into the theater company in New York.

Nicole hires a lawyer, Nora Fanshaw (Laura Dern), and Charlie is forced to hire one, Bert Spita (Alan Alda), and then another, Jay Marotta (Ray Liotta). Charges and counter-charges, shouting matches and apologies, painful moments and tender scenes map the progress toward the precipice of a divorce.

By the time all the papers are signed and the dust settles, Nicole’s TV series has become a success and has been renewed, Charlie’s play has ended its Broadway run and he has taken a one-year position at UCLA. The film ends with Charlie carrying Henry home from trick or treating, while Nicole goes trick or treating with her family and new boyfriend.

Marriage Story is both funny and sad, and audiences will undoubtedly be divided into taking sides, with all lawyers receiving a good share of blame for encouraging the process to continue in their own self interests. This is the best film about divorce since Kramer vs Kramer (40 years ago) or Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage, which is referenced in the current film .The dialogue and acting are excellent throughout, although the trappings of entitlement— the plays on Broadway, MacArthur grants, TV deals, jetting between coasts—may dampen the sympathy from some viewers; the characters are suffering, but they have enough good food and comfortable places to live.

The film received six nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (Driver) and Best Actress (Johansson).

Wallace Shawn is outstanding in a brief part as Frank, an actor in Charlie’s company, and Julie Hagerty is excellent as Sandra, Nicole’s mother.

The Two Popes

After the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005, the cardinals elected Joseph Ratzinger (Anthony Hopkins) to be Pope Benedict XVI. The runner-up was Jorge Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce), an Argentine cardinal. In 2013, Bergoglio travels to Rome to ask the pope’s permission to retire. Benedict receives his visitor at Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence.

Although the two men treat each other with respect and decorum, they are not friends, and a huge gap exists between the conservative, authoritarian Benedict and the liberal Bergoglio, a gap illustrated by the red slippers worn by the Pope and the black leather shoes worn by his successor.

At one point Benedict acknowledges impatiently, “I disagree with everything you say.”

The film gives several flashbacks of Bergoglio’s early life in Argentina, apparently trying to explain where his values and religious beliefs came from.

While these glimpses make the future Pope more sympathetic and perhaps more understandable, they give Hopkins a chance to develop Benedict from a hide-bound villain into almost a tragic figure caught up in an ecclesiastical structure where he is unable to control the sexual and financial scandals around him and can only retreat. There is even humor as Bergoglio keeps trying to give Benedict his request for retirement, and the audience, knowing the outcome, keeps wondering what Benedict will do next to avoid taking it. There are also sly references to ABBA and the “Dancing Queen” as well as a talking watch that orders the infallible Benedict to “keep moving.”

At one point, when a joke falls flat, Benedict says, “It is a German joke— it doesn’t require a punchline.” The acting is superb, and Pryce and Hopkins conduct a master class in nuance and subtlety.

The Two Popes is much more than just talking heads for Catholics; it’s a chance to vicariously visit with two of the most powerful and complex world leaders at their most engaging.

Knives Out

For those who enjoyed Kenneth Branagh’s film Murder on the Orient Express and who are waiting for Branagh’s next Christie film, Death on the Nile, there’s Knives Out. This entertaining whodunit from writer/director Rian Johnson (in between his Star Wars films) has all the standard ingredients, with just enough smirk to make it go down effortlessly without undercutting the genre, and a sequel is already being considered.

It starts with the requisite manor house sprawling in isolated splendor. Of course, it’s owned by someone whom most of the cast hate–in this case the outrageously successful mystery novelist Harlan Thrombey played by Christopher Plummer at his nasty best. As the film opens, Thrombey seems to have committed suicide by cutting his own throat (count on a mystery novelist for suicidal innovation).

Then there’s the large cast of stars, varying in their brilliance and familiar features, each of whom wants his or her fair share (at least) of the estate.

Among the inheritors are Thrombey’s eldest daughter, Linda Drysdale (Jamie Lee Curtis), and her husband Richard Drysdale (Don Johnson); Walt Thrombey, Harlan’s youngest son (Michael Shannon); Joni Thrombey (Toni Collette), the widow of Harlan’s deceased son Neil; Meg Thrombey (Katherine Langford), Joni’s daughter; Jacob Thrombey (Jaeden Martell), Walt’s son; Hugh Ransom Drysdale (Chris Evans), Linda and Richard’s son.

Next, throw in various minor characters such as Frank Oz as Alan Stevens, Harlan’s counsel; M. Emmet Walsh as Mr. Proofroc, a security guard; and Cuban actress Ana de Armas as Marta Cabrera, Harlan’s nurse. Then cap it off with Daniel Craig, 007 himself, playing Benoit Blanc, a private detective whom someone has hired and paid a substantial sum to prove that Thromby’s death was not a suicide.

Blanc has a broad Southern accent that didn’t work for me, but some reviewers loved it, even though the takeoff on Poirot seems obvious. Craig is a fine actor, but didn’t really have a very demanding role.

The film touches on some broader social and political themes, especially in scenes with de Armas, but these do not impede the search for the murderer. The film is clever entertainment for those who like well-done mysteries and should please all Agatha Christie fans.

I, Claudius

Continuing our brief review of interesting TV productions is a relatively short series chronicling the early days of the Roman Empire. For anyone, like me, who missed this series in its 1976 BBC version, it’s available now on Netflix.

Based on Robert Graves’s two novels, I, Claudius (1934) and Claudius the God (1935), the series, which extends across 650 minutes, covers Rome from the year 24 BC to Claudius’ death by poison in AD 54. Directed by Herbert Wise, the series stars Derek Jacobi as the physically handicapped Claudius, who had been preceded as Emperor by Augustus, Tiberius and Caligula, and was to be followed by Nero.

Although the historical record for this period is scanty and frequently written by historians unsympathetic to the emperors, it’s also true that Graves’s novels, like many Hollywood screenplays, were written to stimulate an audience, so the details may often be blurred in favor of a compelling story (e.g., recent research implies that the story of Nero’s behavior while Rome burned may be based on deliberate misinformation written long after the events in question).

In addition to Jacobi’s award-winning performance as Claudius, the series boasts George Baker as Tiberius, John Hurt as Caligula, Robert Morgan as Young Caligula, Brian Blessed as Augustus and Patrick Stewart (in his pre-Star Trek days) as Sejanus.

Although the series was seen as a breakthrough in television productions (often included among the top ten TV shows of all time), it also has been a major influence on successive TV series produced as recently as The Sopranos, Game of Thrones and House of Cards. The creators of the hit 1980s soap opera Dynasty acknowledged that they were seeking to make a modern-day version of I, Claudius.

Although the make-up and the sets are sometimes not up to contemporary production standards, I, Claudius still stands as a landmark in television and sets the stage for contemporary television, including the streaming of networks such as Netflix, which, perhaps ironically, is now offering I, Claudius.

About the Author: Leonard Heldreth became interested in films in high school and worked as a movie projectionist in undergraduate and graduate school. His short “Cinema Comment” aired for some years on WNMU-FM. In 1987, he started writing reviews for Marquette Monthly. He taught English and film studies at NMU for over 30 years.

Editor’s Note: All films reviewed are available as DVDs or on streaming video.